LOBSTER
There are eight words that designate different species or states of the lobster. It is impossible to determine in an exact way the nuances indicated by each of them, and our versions use, depending on the case, the terms of lobster; Sometimes their Heb. name is left, particularly the Haceb (Lev. 11:22), etc.
In any case, they should be considered synonymous. The jumping orthoptera are divided into two suborders. The first includes grasshoppers and locusts, with long, delicate antennae, which are usually longer than the body; In females the laying apparatus, or ovipositor, is strongly developed in the shape of a saber (“Locusta viridissima”). The other includes crickets, which are distinguished in particular by their short, strong antennae (“Pachytylus migratorius”).
The locust goes through three stages: the female deposits her eggs in a cylindrical cavity in the ground in April or May. The young insect, which hatches from the egg in June, is a wingless larva. It passes into the nymph stage when it has rudimentary wings, enclosed in pods. A month later it becomes the perfect, winged insect of proverbial voracity.
The devastations caused by the locusts are a plague worthy of being among those of Egypt (the eighth, Ex. 10:4). The two most common species are Aedipoda migratoria and Acridium peregrinum. They are always found in the deserts of the southeast, but from time to time these insects multiply prodigiously, invading inhabited areas, bringing ruin and desolation everywhere.
The poetic and prophetic books of the Bible abound in almost dramatic descriptions of their destructive power and of human inability to resist them. In any case, the Easterners have nourished themselves on this insect, classified among clean animals (Lev. 11:21-22; cf. the example of John the Baptist, Mt. 3:4). Lightly roasted, the lobsters are sun-dried and then salted. The fleshy parts are consumed, after removing the wings and intestines.
Jahn (Bibl. Archeol § 23 ff.) gives a startling description of the locusts. Immense swarms of migratory crickets, which the Easterners call the armies of God, devastate the country. They march in order, like a regiment.
In the afternoon, they descend on the ground and cover the fields. In the morning, when the sun is already high, they get up and, if they have not found food, they fly downwind (Prov. 30:27; Nah. 3:16-17).
These locusts move in countless swarms and frequently form a cloud 16 to 18 km long and 6 to 8 km wide, so thick that the sun cannot pass through it; They change the light of day into darkness at night, and leave the region visited in darkness (Joel 2:2, 10; Exod. 10:15). The noise of their wings is deafening (JI. 2:10).
When they descend to the ground they form a layer of up to 40 cm. of thickness; If the air is cold and damp, or if they are wet with dew, they remain there until the sun has dried and warmed them (Nah. 3:17). Nothing stops them.
Due to their immense quantity, they put out the fires lit to drive them away and fill the pits dug to prevent their path. They scale the walls, enter houses through doors and windows (JI. 2:7-9). They devour all the greenery, tear the bark off the trees and even break the branches under their weight (Ex. 10:12-19; 11. 1:4-12; 2:2-11).
In the language of Revelation, locusts are the image of a supernatural plague that is announced for the end of time. These locusts emerge from the pit of the abyss, having Apollyon as their leader. They do not touch green plants, but torment those of humans who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads (Rev. 9:1-11).